A Cycle of Running
by Babka
Summary: Meet Stephanie Peppers, who has only ever known how to run. Whether it's running away from monsters from Greek mythology stories that her father read to her when she was a kid or being constantly on the move for a new home. Then there's the fact that she's a demigod? Pshhh, as if she didn't already have enough on her plate as it is. But it only gets worse...


**Author notes at the end...**

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 **prologue**

It seemed all I could ever do was run.

Ever since I was a kid growing up in Russia, running was a part of my life. Whether it was moving from place to place with my father or running away from things that I could only see.

We almost never stayed in one place for longer than a year, for something would always disrupt the peace we would have, which was usually my fault. Because of that

I never had any friends and never fitted with any of the kids at the many schools I went to. I tended to make more enemies, anyways.

It was usually the fact that I couldn't read or write out of everything that bothered my classmates, for some reason. It sucked big time. Every time the teacher would call on people to read with their clipped voices, I'd try to shrink back into my desk and stare down at the class textbook. _Not me. Please don't pick me._ I would pray to

the Gods that they wouldn't choose me. But as fate always has it, there was that _one_ kid in the class who just wouldn't give me a break.

" _Peppers, why don't you stand up and read paragraph 1 of chapter 7_?" The teacher would ask, and of course I would I would have to stand up from my sanctuary with thebook now incredibly heavy in my hands. Then the long awkward silence would come over the classroom as I stare at the words starting to move along the page.

Whispers would start to trickle through the class and soon muffled snickers. They knew every time.

At every school I went to I was made fun for it. Some kids even made rumors that it was my father's own fault for being a dumb American. My old man just couldn't catch a break, because it was just me being me. Because I'm dyslexic.

" _She doesn't even know how to read, what an idiot."_ Some kid would laugh to his friend behind me.

I hated that word.

In Russian its _Dura_ , a mean word if used seriously and I was in no way an was I to let someone call me that?

I could feel my blood boiling and _I was by no means a sissy,_ and it just wasn't the Russian way to let that slide.

Next thing I knew was that I was expelled with a black eye and a busted lip and was being dragged away from the school by my father with the kids from my class leaning against the windows of the classroom, watching me with mirth. You should see the other guy though.

He was crying in the back as the teacher lectured him. That's what he got for calling me a _Dura_.

"Why did you do that? Stephanie, you know you can just do that!" my poor father would nearly cry.

But in the end he'd just sigh with his head down and his shoulders sagging as he gave in. "I guess we'll just have to move again…"

Then there you have it! It was a cycle of moving, never stopping for a break.

But I enjoyed it since I could never stand staying in once place for so long.

For I am Stephanie Peppers and I thirst for adventure!

But it wasn't only that. It was actually much worse, for I can see stuff that others can't.

Not even my dad could see the monsters that were sometimes in plain daylight, even after I pointed it out.

My dad thought it was just me being cute when I was little with my over imaginative self, but at a point it started to get creepy and threatened to take me to a shrink if I didn't stop. So I had to shut my mouth when I saw them.

Strangely, as I grew older more of them started to appear and started to attack me for reasons I couldn't explain back then.

I mean, I didn't know I was a half-blood or what that even meant! My first experience with them coming up on me was when I was at school, of course.

It was during winter and we were huddled up in our coats as we sat at our cold desks.

The _batareya,_ the radiator heater, was struggling to keep the classroom warm and Ms. Abramov lit a candle at her desk at a poor attempt to keep her space warm as well.

At least she had a good light source.

So while we were writing with our stiff cold hands on our assignment, I noticed in the corner of my eye something particular.

I stopped writing and looked at it with a gaping mouth. At the corner of the classroom a giant feline monster was at the _batareya_ hogging all the heat.

Some of the other students stopped as well as they noticed the temperature of the classroom dropping, but instead of having the same reaction when spotting the creature, they actually smiled and started to mutter how cute it was.

What the hell.

I looked at the teacher and she seemed to have noticed that there was less writing going on and peered at us with a scowl forming on her aged face.

She followed our line of sight and saw the creature as well.

" _What in the world? How did a cat get in here? And such a big one as well…"_ She said in great surprise.

She started to walk towards it, but suddenly it jumped to side and quickly made its way towards me.

Ms. Abramov cursed while I screamed and scrambled out of the desk.

Is nobody seeing this? I just couldn't understand how everyone was being so calm. How the heck was that... **thing** cute?!

The monster was talking, saying something cheesy like "It's time for you to meet your end!"

Later I would have laughed at how ridiculous that sounded, but I did the only thing I could think of.

I somehow managed to lift my desk and threw it with all my might at the monster which got an inhuman scream out of it as it flew from the force and crashed into the windows.

Cold wind and snow entered the classroom and suddenly everyone was yelling and the teacher was livid and red faced and she screamed at me to get out of the class room.

I immediately left the school in a run and never came back. I never noticed the dust at the side of the building.

The next day my father grounded me.

Apparently the school said I killed a cat… but that was in no way a cat.

But that was not at all the end of it, for only more monsters would come as I grew older...

Well, this is my story of how I learned that I, Stephanie Peppers, am soon going to embark on the biggest adventure I could ever ask for.

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 **AN: Hello! Welp, this is the first story I've written (for real) and posted on here... So please be gentle with me, but do not be afraid to correct me on some things like grammer and other stuff! :) This as you can see is a self-insert fanfic. There will be probably alot of ocs who will be revealed in later chapters and if some of the canon characters are out of character, I** **apologize** **. This character, Stephanie Peppers and a few others are actually characters in a story that my dear friend is writing. Check her deviantart here: and our page for the story which is also here:**

 **Well, enough fooling around... I hope you will enjoy this fanfic! Even though this is so far is just a mere introduction. ;)**

 **Edit 1: To be honest, this was very rushed, so don't be surprised to see a lot of changes made later. Cause that's what I plan on doing. So expect a longer intro as well.**


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